"President Sato Shares His Vision: 'The World's Future is in Our Collective Hands'"
In the heart of Tokyo, the Japan Mobility Show 2023 took place at Tokyo Big Sight from October 26 to November 5, marking a significant shift from its former identity as the Tokyo Motor Show. This year's event, themed "Find Your Future", aimed to create the future together, with President Koji Sato of Toyota Motor Corporation at the helm, presenting the company's vision for a balanced and inclusive approach to electrification and mobility.
President Sato's keynote address at the show highlighted a multi-pathway strategy that focuses on technology diversity, with a strong emphasis on hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and software-defined vehicles (SDVs). This strategy is designed to cater to varied markets and infrastructure readiness worldwide while striving for carbon neutrality.
At the heart of Toyota's vision lies diversity and inclusion. The company is committed to addressing diverse consumer needs and local conditions globally, ensuring that their technology solutions fit various markets and customers. This approach aims to support diversity in mobility options and technologies.
Toyota's commitment to BEVs is evident in their plans to ramp up battery capacity and develop next-generation batteries, including solid-state batteries. These advanced batteries are expected to deliver higher output, longer range, and shorter charging times. Toyota is also working on new lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries to reduce costs and improve performance, targeting a 50% reduction in battery cost per vehicle in the late 2020s.
The role of software in next-generation vehicles is not lost on Toyota. The company sees software as a critical element defining the future of vehicles, enabling enhanced connectivity, upgrading capabilities post-sale, and improved functionality. This trend includes SDVs that enable more flexible, feature-rich, and sustainable vehicle use cycles.
President Sato introduced three future car stories driven by mobility at the Toyota Booth. The first story focuses on the future life with battery EVs, offering eco-friendly driving, fun, and diverse experience value. This vision includes cars with a low center of gravity and spacious interiors, features that were not possible in the past.
Connected to new software partners, these future cars will make travel more convenient and fun. Examples include shopping from an app, manual driving mode for automotive seasoning, and energy grid mode for community assistance.
The Lexus brand will be the first to produce cars that tell this story, with a showcase at 10:30 by Simon Humphries, Chief Branding Officer.
In summary, Toyota's vision at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 centers on a balanced and inclusive approach to electrification and mobility, combining hybrid and battery EV technologies enhanced by innovative battery development and software capabilities to create future-ready vehicles adaptable to diverse markets and sustainability goals. The event was designed to reflect the diverse values and needs of the current age, bringing together Japanese technology and trailblazing business leaders, with the goal of connecting and sharing Japan's future vision with the rest of the world.
The keynote address at the Japan Mobility Show 2023, delivered by President Koji Sato, emphasized Toyota's commitment to diverse markets and infrastructure readiness worldwide, with a focus on catering to varying consumer needs and sustainability goals through a multi-pathway strategy that envelops technology diversity in hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
This strategy in the automotive industry is further bolstered by Toyota's plans to develop next-generation batteries, including solid-state batteries and new lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries, with the aim of reducing battery cost per vehicle by 50% in the late 2020s, thereby ensuring its finance-friendly approach to future mobility solutions. Additionally, the company's focus on software expansions, particularly in SDVs, will enable enhanced connectivity, post-sale upgrades, and improved functionality, marking a significant shift in the technology sector's role in transportation.
